Maps provide an accessible and efficient visualization method for representing geospatial reality. Since maps are configured to reflect real-world geography, individuals can visually determine the Euclidean distance between points on a map. For example, an individual viewing a map representing an urban area, with points of interest connected by available transportation infrastructure (such as walkways, roadways, bus and subway routes, etc.), can visually determine the travel distance between two points based on the total length of a route along the connections multiplied by a scale factor. However, due to various factors such as traffic along the transportation infrastructure, differences in speed limits, weather conditions, and mass-transit schedules, the travel time between different points may vary significantly even when travel distances are substantially the same. As a result, it can be challenging for individuals to predict travel time based on conventional maps.
Various techniques for representing travel times on maps have been used to overcome these shortcomings. For example, some real-time mapping systems have shown roadways with various colors to highlight different levels of traffic congestion in an attempt to enhance geospatial information with geotemporal information. However, colors corresponding to traffic congestion are limited in the precision of information that may be conveyed and require an individual to mentally combine roadways of different colors and different lengths to determine travel time. Alternatively, some systems have generated geographically warped maps in which points on the map are located according to their travel time from other points.
The techniques introduced here may be better understood by referring to the following Detailed Description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals indicate identical or functionally similar elements.